Falling From the Ground

CHAPTER THREE

Herbology was boring. There wasn't anything for it. It was simply gardening.

Lily didn't feel it was something that ought to be taught in a magical school. Growing plants didn't seem that difficult. In all actuality, it wasn't that difficult. Students weren't even required to bring their wands.

Lily had grown plants at home with her mother and they hadn't used any magic either, she didn't think it warranted an entire portion of her week, but she sat there anyway. The professor, Professor Mathews, seemed to be trying very hard to get the students interested and the least she could do was pay attention.

Lunch came and went in a flash-one minute they were at the greenhouse; the next they were at Charms and in between Lily could have sworn she had eaten a sandwich.

The head of the Slytherin house taught Charms. The professor, who had to be not much older than thirty years of age, had set up the class to have over a hundred charms in motion as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs entered the room. While the room seemed to be much larger than it really could have been, the windows were shining with a sunlight that Lily hadn't seen while walking back from Herbology and for the life of her she couldn't see the professor. Hundreds of little statutes of pigs were flying in tight circles over their heads; some would even follow students as they walked around the room.

As each student entered the room their robes would brighten slightly and then die down, leaving their name, age, and house in their house colors glowing on the front. Then the person would be "tugged" over to their seats by a truly unseen force. As Lily sat down she began to laugh. Sabine, next to her, began to cry. Someone shouted and others sighed. Then with a sudden whoosh all of their seats rose into the air, then, just as suddenly, they fell to the ground with a thump, effectively silencing the entire room of eleven year olds.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" the professor said clapping her hands together, making everything flying disappear. The woman who spoke seemed to have suddenly appeared in the corner of their classroom. She was about five feet five inches and held a grace that Lily had seen in no one since her Grandmother.

The professor had black hair that fell to her shoulders. She was thin and wore the nicest green robes that Lily had ever seen. They seemed to sparkle. She looked like the type to hold a dinner party for fifty people and prepare all the dishes as well as serve them and do it all with style. She looked ready to take on the world- a room full of eleven year olds was nothing to her. She also had a curious sparkle in her eyes that seemed to match that of her robes.

"What you have just witnessed is what you will be able to do by the end of your third year here, if you make it that far." Whispering broke out around the room as they all began to anticipate the fun they would have this year. "Wait," she said, sending sparks out of the end of her wand. The woman never raised her voice and continued with fluency. She always sounded matter of fact, like anyone that doubted her was crazy.

"I will not lie to any of you just yet. This class will be work, hard work for most of you, but the benefits are what you have just seen.

"There are three things that I tell all of my first years. You can ask the seventh years now; they heard what I am about to tell you all those years ago and it still rings true today. First, your abilities will depend on your willingness to try. It is a give and take situation. You give a lot and you get a lot back. Unless, that is, I steal some, which is very possible if what you are giving is food and or drinks.

"Second, you there... Sabine," she said, reading the name off the front of Sabine's robes, "I want you to do exactly what I do." She raised her wand hand into the air and a swirl of smoke came out in alternating green and silver colors. Sabine raised her wand in the air and... nothing happened. "What's the matter Sabine?"

"I can't do it," Sabine said in a soft voice. Some of the class snickered and the professor just looked at them as a lion might look at a limping gazelle. The snickering stopped immediately. All the while, Sirius was continuing the note taking process, as he had in every other class. The only difference was that in this class he seemed to be actually listening to the teacher and taking notes on her words as well as the room.

"Go ahead then everyone. Try it if you think you can," the professor challenged her class. There was something in a her voice, a hidden edge that left no one with any brave notion of taking her up on her offer and trying.

"Exactly what I thought. None of you can do it because none of you are the professor of Charms. Guess who is?" she feigned surprise pointing at herself with her wand. "Why, it's me! That, students, is why you must call me Professor Alsop-because I know things that you do not and I plan to teach them to you!" Here the adult paused and seemed to consider the class. Once she seemed to accept that each student had heard what she said, she continued.

"So, having said that, none of you will complain about the way I teach or the amount of work I give you. It is for a reason. Trust me, you don't have any reason not to yet.

"Third, and in my opinion most important, I see that this class is made up of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. I, as some of you may know, am the Slytherin Head of House. I am going to give you Gryffindors an especially hard time. It's just that there was this feud a long time ago and, well, we Slytherins are a bit competitive. Which is good because usually we win but not always. So if you are going to make a big scene in this class you should realize that it could cost your house the cup.

"I also think that I should inform you that unlike your other professors I will not take attendance. For this first year you will find every day you are in this class your robes will light up like they are now. If you do not come to class a red marker with your name will float in your place to your desk to signify that you are not in my classroom. After the first year is done if you do not plan on coming to class, just don't. It will be twenty points from your house (thirty if you are from Gryffindor) and then you can fail your exams at your own expense.

"That said, let us start work with the levitating charm," with a swish of her wand nearly forty feathers were floating towards her various students. The class ended up with almost all of the feathers having at least stood up at one point during the class. Most people were pretty proud of themselves for accomplishing that much, especially after the disastrous Transfiguration class.

"I like her," Sabine said in unison with Sirius when they left the classroom.

"I don't know," a boy named Tim said, walking forward, "I knew how to levitate things since I was a toddler. I don't see why she didn't give us something of a challenge. If I hadn't been trying to blend in I would have also done a better job in Transfiguration too. I don't even know why my parents sent me to a school; I was tested at genius levels you know, some say I have power that even Dumbledore couldn't achieve. Although I must say that he isn't really all that special. He wasn't even prophesized about. I was. They say that I will bring down the next threat to our world."

James laughed easily and Tim looked sharply at him.

"What?"

"Nothing," James said smiling a smile that looked both easy and sincere, "What did this prophecy say?"

"Well my parents went to see the greatest seer in the world when they realized they were going to have a child," he said and they walked down the corridor together. Everyone could hear James as he continued to laugh occasionally and Tim's quick replies. Sabine and Lily stared at each other in a bit of disgust.

"Now why did he go actually talk to that git?" Sirius asked the remaining people. Lily saw Sabine open her mouth to respond, but she was too slow.

"Maybe, Sirius, it was because James saw you getting ready to chuck your wand at Tim's head," a small boy in the back said walking up to Sirius, smirking.

"Just try and convince me he didn't deserve it," Sirius said.

"I can't, but I can tell you that right now James is getting more information on a potential target than we could have gotten in a year," the boy said, walking up to a parallel with Sirius.

"At least now we have a target," Sirius began as they left. Lily turned to look at Sabine and saw a look that clearly said I-told-you-so.

"Fine," Lily conceded, "But who was that boy who just talked to... what was his name... Sirius?"

"Peter Pettigrew! Honestly Lily what would you do without me?"

"I don't know," Lily said and they followed a couple of meters behind Sirius and Peter.

~*~*~

As that first week passed, Lily went to each of the rest of her classes in turn, only just making it through some of the more boring ones. Potions definitely left something to be desired. They shared it with the Slytherins and though it seemed like it could have a lot of practical uses, it reminded Lily of baking a cake.

"Does anyone know the key ingredient in the cure-itch potion?" The professor asked.

"It's as though he is asking what he needs to make a cookie. I am tempted to say flour," Lily muttered to Sabine. The class had gone silent, with everyone avoiding the professor's eyes. When his eyes went to the roster everyone cringed.

"Fitzgerald? Fitzgerald? Raise your hand please so I can identify you, ah. Any ideas?"

"Um, fish tail?" the girl named Fitzgerald answered. The professor was about to respond when something distracted Lily from the scene. A small voice in the back of the room had muttered, "It's eel skin." When Lily turned around to see if the person speaking was talking to her.

All she saw when she turned was a boy in the corner desk closest to the door taking notes. He seemed to have been speaking to himself. No one else seemed to have heard him. When the teacher said that Georgine Fitzgerald had been incorrect he had again asked for volunteers. Lily raised her hand into the air, strangely confident.

"Go ahead."

"Eel skin," she said, and having positioned herself before she spoke so as to see the boy's response she glanced in his direction as she spoke. He hadn't looked up once. The Professor thanked her, gave five points to Gryffindor, and began to list the exact amount of ingredients needed for the potion.

Lily found herself bored for the rest class, her eyes roaming. Once more she got an eyeful of Sirius Black sitting in the front row, not looking at the list at all but still diligently taking notes. Lily soon found herself placing items in front of herself and cutting them into exact measurements- more bored than she could remember being in her life. Then again, she hadn't been to History of Magic yet. When she did get there she found herself wishing she were back in Potions.

By the last dinner on Friday night the cliques were slowly but surly forming themselves. Lily and Sabine sat in two corner chairs, slightly apart from the rest of the Gryffindors. Lily had her History of Magic book out in front of her. "Lily, do you really think that the old ghost is going to know if you don't read the-"

"Yes, and even if he doesn't, it should help me somewhat to get a start. I'm not you, you know."

"And that matters because..."

"Your mum and-"

"You know that doesn't matter, try again." Sabine said, taking a sip of her soup. Lily looked to her left for just the briefest of seconds and saw the boy from Potions looking at them. He quickly turned away and Lily thought she saw the briefest hint of a blush on his cheeks. "Hello?" Sabine said, poking him in the shoulder with the tip of her spoon.

"Hello." He barely glanced at them while still facing forward, eating his food slowly.

"Don't you just love it here?" Lily asked, smiling as she took the spoon that Sabine had poked him with out of her hand and handed her a new clean one, not even interrupting Sabine's eating motion. "Thanks for the answer in Potions by the way," Lily grinned at him; he seemed almost painfully shy.

The boy just nodded and went back to eating. He glanced up only occasionally and Lily, being eleven, didn't quite understand why he wouldn't meet her eyes. She really liked his eyes; they were a very soft brown color. It reminded her of her stuffed bear she had left with Petunia, Pink Baby, and suddenly she felt herself overcome with homesickness. She pushed that away quickly though and focused on dinner.

The two girls began to talk to him, not recognizing his discomfort, but in their dialogue they explained about their living arrangements and growing up together and everything. He had a look of understanding flash across his face. He smiled and nodded occasionally, encouraging them to tell more. Lily, trusting by nature, began to recount stories from their childhood-pranks and little sister jokes included.

"I'm Lily Evans, by the way, and this is Sabine Lowery."

"I'm Remus Lupin. Um, so, you two are muggle-borns?" Remus asked them, seeming almost as though obliged to ask them a question after they had bombarded him with them.

"That would be me," Lily said, smiling slightly, "But Sabine here as odd one."

"My dad actually works for the Ministry. How about you?" and so the two girls met Remus Lupin, whose father was a shop owner in a little town off Diagon Alley. They sat through dinner with Sabine mainly asking questions and him responding. Lily would occasionally talk to them but mainly she sat back and watched his movements. She noticed what he seemed comfortable talking about (mainly Quidditch) and what he avoided talking about (his family). Lily knew that by the end of the night Sabine would know enough information about him to fill a book, whether or not he wanted her to know it. Lily could ask Sabine later every question that she wanted to, and Sabine would know the answer.

In this strange way the two best friends worked off each other without even realizing it. While Sabine would get the facts, Lily would get the other information, what he was comfortable with and what he wasn't. As they talked about new acquaintances they would bounce thoughts and opinions off each other and in the end have a pretty good idea of what that person was actually like.

After dinner Lily went up to her dormitory and replied to her grandmother's letter from way back on the first day. She had been so busy with classes and homework and whatnot that she had completely forgotten to write them. She told her grandparents that she was in Gryffindor. She wished them both well and told them about Transfiguration and Charms, figuring they would like to know about how much she liked the Slytherin Head of House. She was not sure how to sign her letter though. Should she say, with love? Yours truly? Or maybe from? In the end, she decided to do as they did, and simply sign her name. Their response took longer than Lily would have expected.

The next Monday morning the routine of getting lost getting to breakfast, then getting lost going to class, then getting lost going to lunch, getting lost going to afternoon classes, and ending with getting lost going to dinner and bed, started again after breakfast trying to find the Defense classroom.

The Head of Gryffindor house taught Defense Against The Dark Arts, but that didn't make the lessons any easier. Professor Shea was his name. He was an elderly man that seemed on the verge of reaching Dumbledore in years. Or at least as though he was desperate to get away from students.

On his first day of class he announced, "I don't have to teach, but I do. That should tell you something about who I am. I do not accept late work. I will not give extra time on a test. You will learn to live with your assigned book. You do have another classes but I will not recognize them as an excuse to get out of your work. Your end of the year exam will be difficult and I will expect you to be able to recognize, by sight, the ten signs of curse work. You will need to know, if not perform, the counter spell for the burning, cross-eye, freezing, and animal curses. What you learn in other classes will be tied into this class. The only way to achieve even minimal marks in this course will be to achieve top grades in charms, potions, and transfiguration. For today I would like you to open your books to..." but as he continued to talk all of the students sat, staring at him, already feeling the extra pressure. The class found out soon enough that they were required to read about a chapter each night for outside work, and most days they had to write a report summarizing it. The teacher would then test them all on it the next day in class.

It was during that class Lily noticed James Potter purposefully sit next to Remus, just as he had with Gill in Transfiguration that first day. She had smiled at him and he quickly smiled back beginning to talk to Remus about Quidditch. It had been then that Lily and Sabine had decided that James was someone they should get to know a little better. He had gone out of his way twice to sit next to a boy that looked as though he was out of place, and he even put up with Tim who was beginning to talk more and more about himself as the class avoided telling him to shut up. James was quick to laugh and every time that he did others would follow suit. It was contagious.

~*~*~

Sabine wrote to her parents on Saturday, as would become a weekly tradition. She wrote home a three-foot essay about her week and they would send her chocolate frogs and other sweets in return. Compared to Lily, who wrote to her parents when ever they felt like it and always filled the letters with her feelings, Sabine wrote detailed reports.

Sabine told her parents a lot about the boys in her year. There were five boys total in Gryffindor that year. She started that letter off about Remus, how alone he had seemed that first day, how shy he was, how he never volunteered answers but always muttered the right one under his breath. In fact, she wrote a lot about Remus for having only known him a few days.

She wrote about James' kindness and humor and how it had earned him many friends already. She wrote about Sirius' notes. Sirius seemed to use his notes to avoid having to really try at the work. He seemed so ready to impress, ready to go. The first week seemed to be smothering him and by the third week they all knew why. He and "the gang", as James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew called themselves, levitated Tim randomly in the middle of History of Magic. Professor Binns was dumbfounded and they were hysterical. Lily, for her part, was amazed at the skill they had used to work that charm together.

Then Sabine wrote about Tim. Eager to prove his all magical background he volunteered for every class and each time Sabine and Lily found it harder and harder not to feel poorly for him. He would occasionally be able to perform the spell but more often than not it backfired and the class would wince as he left to go to the infirmary. Then he would force all of them to hate him again when he came back by telling everyone that he had done in on purpose to insure that they didn't feel badly about themselves in comparison to him. Sabine wrote A LOT about Tim.

She always finished her letters by talking about Lily and herself and classes. She would tell her family about the spells that she had learned. She dwelled on the happier aspects and tended to skill over transfiguration.

Those first few days of classes turned out to be a good indicator of what that class would be like the rest of the year. Transfiguration was hard. Herbology was pointless. Charms was fun, but also a little scary. Potions was painfully boring. History of Magic was even worse, and Defense Against the Dark Arts was simply hard. Flying, which started with the Quidditch season, was terrifying and thrilling all at once. It was just a stick and yet it gave each student the freedom to leave the ground. That is if you weren't terrified that the broom would suddenly run out of magic like Sirius kept claiming it could and James kept "demonstrating" by suddenly letting his broom plummet within feet of the ground just before it "jumped started" back again.

They were quite the pair, James and Sirius. After September ended, it seemed as though they had finally quit taking their absurd notes and together with Remus sitting quietly with them and Peter's fast humor, they made even History of Magic fun.

They didn't know that many spells, but those that they did they used well. After they had learned the growth spell they had made it so that Tim's head would grow and grow and grow until it rapidly shrunk after a minute. While this seemed hilarious to most, Lily couldn't help but notice that it was James that went over and casually dropped a note in Tim's lap before he went to the bathroom and came back normal.

Their pranks were executed with expert timing. They began and ended if on cue (which Lily had a feeling they did). They started when the teacher wasn't looking (normally because of something that Sirius did) followed quickly by Peter grabbing the targets attention. Then Remus would say something to James, who would execute the plan. They did it with such skill and grace that Lily wondered what it was they did at night. Did they sleep? Or stay awake for hours figuring these things out?

Lily would see them in the common room late into the night shouffling through the notes that Sirius had taken. Pointing things out to one another and laughing all the while. They seemed to be truly enjoying themselves and though Remus still held back Lily could see him adjusting to the group. He smiled more and laughed easier. He still didn't volunteer in class, but maybe he never would.

Each class came as something new in the forth week. That was obviously when The Gang decided that it was time to start making their mark. They started off small, testing the professor's willingness for pranks. They soon found Professor Alsop to be the one that most enjoyed the pranks, though she did take off by far and away the most points. Professor Mathews, of Herbology, had the strangest reaction to the pranks that anyone had ever seen. After the first day The Gang wasn't sure if they should ever try another one in his class.

~*~*~*~

"Professor?" Peter had raised his hand one day in the middle of a boiling hot Herbology lecture about pruning. Professor Mathews smiled at him and nodded. "I read somewhere that if you prune a magical plant in the muggle way that it will die immediately."

"Oh no! Where did you hear that?" the Professor began to explain, in detail, what would happen if you pruned a plant the muggle way. He was so excited that a student had cared enough to read and actually ask a question, that he completely and utterly focused on Peter. Peter seemed to be taking it well, looking him back straight in the eye. It was only Lily who saw it coming. James and Sirius slipped aside. Remus was sitting in the back, looking quite pale but happy and that was when it began.

She saw the bucket levitate off the ground and eventually stop just over the professor's head before pouring down on him. The entire class stood stock still as the drenched professor continued his conversation with Peter. No one dared to laugh. Then plants began to grow out of their professor's head. Not just one flower or two but bushes and bushes of them. The children could hardly hold back their giggles as a butterfly randomly flew out of the Professor's left ear. It was just such a strange sight. He seemed to completely blend in with Green House.

But Professor Mathews just kept talking about pruning with Peter. At one point he even picked a flower off of his own head to demonstrate.

"Here, I'll show you. If you prune it the magical way like this, Pruicium. Or the muggle way," he picked another flower and began to fiddle with sears, "both turn out the same way." He continued on like this for a long time. When the class finally ended and the students marched out, Peter almost attacked Sirius and James.

"I had to talk about pruning for an hour!" Lily heard him say as she walked by.

"There was no way we could have known he wouldn't react," Sirius said sadly.

"He didn't even look upset; just went on about taking care of flowers," Remus said thoughtfully while James smiled.

"Obviously we are going to have to try another class," James said easily.

"And after all the work we put into that potion," Sirius sighed. They went on talking but by that time Lily had already left their immediate vicinity. Sabine looked at her sadly.

"They are going to be so much trouble."